


Tired

by ceeloilights



Category: Green Lantern - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Massages, Non-Sexual Shower Scene, Sleepy fluff, these boys need some sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 05:41:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26966881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceeloilights/pseuds/ceeloilights
Summary: Hal comes home to Barry still working late into the night.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Hal Jordan
Comments: 13
Kudos: 49





	Tired

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out longer than expected, I also wrote this whenever I was extremely sleep deprived so...  
> Hope you enjoy!

Pushing back his hair, Barry backspaced a couple of words, then tapped away at his keyboard. His fingers leaping from one key to the next, his earbuds in, and his attention was narrowed in on his screen.

Barry hadn't noticed the brunette entering the room, the noise of his footsteps suppressed with his socks.

Finishing his sentence with a period, Barry nearly jumped out of his seat when he felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck.

Hal hugged at Barry's neck, his nose getting buried in blond hair as he closed his eyes and savored the moment. Inhaling deeply, Hal hummed lightly when he could smell Barry's shampoo. Moving to lay his cheek on his own bicep, Hal fluttered his eyes at the laptop screen for a second before going to bury his face in Barry's neck.

"Tired?" Barry wearily asked, his smile warm but it was clear he needed rest. Pulling out his earbuds and resting them on the table, Barry gentle patted at Hal's head, his fingers getting tangled between chocolate strands as he brought his attention back to the document.

Hal moaned, which Barry took as a 'yes'.

"Aww... I'm sorry. You should get to bed." the blond removed his hand from Hal's hair, his fingers getting back to typing.

Hal grumbled out something muddled, his breath drifting along Barry's neck. When he didn't get a reply for what he said, Hal drew his nose from pale skin and slurred, "Wh'n are y'u gon'a be done?"

Reading a few more words, Barry reached his hand up to touch at Hal's arm, "In a few. I have to read this over."

Hal let go of a sigh, his face going to pressing against Barry's neck as he griped quietly.

"Don't be like that," Barry said, keeping his tone low and steady, mostly because he was tired, "Go to bed."

Hal pouted, "What's the point when I can't cuddle you?"

A soft smile grew on Barry's face as he read the words in front of him, then slowly blinked. Hal can reply to anything and make it sound endearing, but he also could reply to anything and make it sound dirty, Hal just has a way with words.

Barry's gotten fairly used to Hal discreetly giving him a compliment, it's like how Hal would indirectly say 'I love you'. That doesn't mean Hal's words don't make Barry blush any more than they used to. However, over the years, he found Hal doesn't typically show his love with his words. No matter how many times he says the aforementioned three words, Hal seems to show more emotion when he's doing anything other than speaking.

Even now, with Hal being as close as he is, the feeling of adoration is much stronger than if either of them blurted out the phrase.

"You're tired." Barry tried, clicking between some letters to fix a punctuation error.

"I don't see you going to bed when you're tired." Hal retorted, the pout still there, but Barry knew Hal was only being difficult to prove a point.

"After I finish reading this over," Barry said, adding on "I promise." Though he knew Hal wouldn't buy it, at least he was keeping the pilot from dozing while his arms were still wrapped around Barry's neck.

"Mmm...don’t lie to me." Hal moved to lay his head against his arm.

Barry didn't respond to that. Hal gets stubborn when he's tired, and with a simple glance to the corner of the laptop, Barry could tell it was far from an hour any average person with a day job would sleep at. Alongside the fact Hal most likely hasn't slept in a few weeks, he's most definitely exhausted out of his mind, and was not getting persuaded anytime soon.

"Just a few more minutes," Barry mumbled, considering whether or not he should tap into the Speedforce just to proofread the paper faster and get Hal and himself to bed earlier. Well, earlier than it would take if he didn't use his speed anyway.

"Then we can go to bed?" Hal's voice rose a bit at the end of the sentence.

Barry sighed lightly, "Yes, then  _ we  _ can go to bed."

Hal hummed, pleased with the compromise. Brown eyes blinked slowly as they watched Barry correct a few mistakes.

Getting bored after a few seconds, Hal went back to nuzzling against Barry's neck. Taking in Barry's shampoo, Hal could tell the blond didn't blow dry his hair, instead, letting it air dry as he worked on other things around the house. It didn't have the lingering smell of warmth Barry would have whenever he'd blow his hair dry, and it had a stronger scent of fruit and flower as though those smells hadn't been blown away at high speeds.

Hal shifted his weight from one foot to the other, drained from his work in space, but he'd be damned if he let Barry work until he passed out over the table.

Stubborn he was indeed.

Rocking back and forth on his feet, he lulled himself into sleep even more, occasionally breathing out a moan to keep himself awake.

"Take a shower why don't you," Barry suggested, though it left no room for argument.

Hal pouted as much as he let himself. His aching muscles were screaming for warm water, but he also didn't want Barry to get into something else while he was away.

"I swear I'll go to bed once I'm done rereading," Barry promised, turning to face Hal. He didn't believe him, and Barry knew it.

Barry was about to open his mouth and say something else when Hal rolled his eyes halfway, then released his hold of Barry's neck. He pressed a kiss to Barry's temple, then pushed himself up straight.

"Fine..." Hal gave in, knowing if he found Barry jumping into something new, the blond would be getting an earful and have to be physically pried away from his seat and onto the mattress, "You better not work more."

"I won't," Barry said in an innocent tone, the same tone Hal would use to promise Barry he wouldn't do something impulsive and get himself hurt, then ultimately get himself landed with Soranik sewing up a gash in his back.

That got Hal to pout, his eyes half-lidded, then he turned around and give a hefty sigh. He had no energy left to react, he didn't even know how to function properly at this point.

Once Hal had left the room, Barry was back to being with his laptop and all the words he has to read.

Squeezing his eyes, Barry felt them sting with how dry and tired they are. After a few minutes of letting his eyes rest, he opened them back up, he stared at his screen, trying to get back into the mindset of working, but now all he could think of was getting into bed and sleeping.

He distantly heard the sound of the shower handle being twisted followed by the immediate rushing of water through the pipes in the walls, and then the loud, continuous splatter of liquid against tiles.

In the bathroom, Hal stepped into the streaming water, a sigh being released as he felt his muscles relax a bit. He rolled his shoulders back, closing his eyes to savor the effect it had on his body, taking a shower was a wonderful idea.

The warm water pelted his skin as he stood under the showerhead, the water already taking effect on his sore muscles when he poured some soap into his hand and rubbed them together to create wonderfully smelling bubbles.

Running his hands over his skin to spread the soap, Hal tried to massage the tighter knots that have formed in his back, but one of the downsides to having muscles was that he could only stretch his arm back so much. Safe to say he'd have to sleep that off, or maybe get Barry to massage him, but he wasn't sure if Barry wanted to give up his sleeping time to give him a back massage.

Squeezing a shampoo bottle and receiving a wheeze along with the contents, Hal's brain was soon turned on autopilot as he scrubbed at his hair and rinsed it out.

He flipped back his drenched hair, scrubbing at his face for a few seconds under the strong water pressure before he twisted it off and went to go reach for a towel.

Wiping his face to rid of water droplets, he blinked open his eyes and rubbed his hair until it was just damp instead of soaking. Gradually, he moved down, drying himself until he reached his toes.

Hanging up the towel, Hal stepped out of the shower and onto the mat, where he wiped the bottom of his feet dry, then made his way over to the mirror. He knew Barry insisted on him to wear the robe that was hanging on the door, but where was the fun in not having Barry ogle at him and lovingly stroke at his disgustingly scarred skin once they were settled into bed if Hal had a robe on?

Picking up his toothbrush, Hal smiled wearily at it.

Barry changed his toothbrush again. It's yellow now, what a jerk.

Spreading some toothpaste onto the bristles, he began brushing, his brain going back into autopilot mode with how mundane the task was, so much so, once he was done brushing he let go of the toothbrush, forgetting that on Earth he had to deal with gravity.

The plastic knocked against the marble of the sink, making a loud clattering noise and gaining a wince from the brunette. Picking the toothbrush back up, he spat out the foam gathered in his mouth and rinsed his brush clean before placing it back into its holder. 

Wiping his mouth on a nearby towel, Hal turned to face the mirror, combing his damp hair back with his fingers until he looked like he had a comb-over. Frowning at his reflection, Hal shook out his hair and pushed his hair back from his face. 

Did he have those dark bags under his eyes this whole time? He looks like a dead corpse that had been raised by Black Hand.

Ruffling his hair for a bit of volume, he inspected the way the tousled strands stood up. Did he look cute enough? Hal stared at himself for a bit, then messed with the hair at the back of his head, soon deciding he didn’t like the look and forcefully shook out his hair again.

Looking back into the mirror, he accepted the fact he wasn't going to look nice for Barry tonight, not when he feels like he’s been through Hell and back. Running his fingers through his hair once more, he gave a final glimpse towards himself before exiting the bathroom.

The ceiling light was now off, but the lamp on the bedside table was illuminating an orange glow over the bed, where Barry was rearranging the blankets to make them more comfortable for himself.

Hal watched as Barry dragged his attention from the blankets to glance at Hal when he walked in, but his eyes quickly went back to the sheets, a small smile creeping on his face before he laid down and turned his back towards Hal.

The body language earned a smirk from Hal as he moved around the room. Pulling a hairdryer from the dresser drawer, he plugged it in and for the next few minutes, all that was heard was the sound of blaring wind as Hal swept the current over his hair. Once his hair was dry and his head warm, he shut the wind off and placed it back into the drawer, turning on his heel to find Barry still had his back facing him.

Crossing the distance from the dresser to the bed, Hal slipped on top of the covers and rested his cheek on Barry’s shoulder. His left arm going to encircle around Barry’s neck, while his right draping over his waist.

Hal could feel Barry move under his touch, giving a tired moan, the blond lazily flipped over to have Hal comfortably lay against his chest instead of his arm.

“I’m surprised you’re in bed.” Hal murmured, lifting his head for Barry to turn around fully.

“I promised, didn’t I?” he mumbled, feeling Hal shift to get under the covers, “...put some clothes on.”

Resting his head on Barry’s chest, Hal tiredly chuckled, “I like it like this.”

“ ‘Course  _ you  _ do.” Barry jeered, but Hal knew there wasn’t any heat behind it, this was  _ Barry  _ he was talking to, even if there was heat behind it, Hal knew it was the product from his exhaustion and burn-out.

Just as Hal went to hum in response, Barry’s hand came up to apologetically run his fingers through Hal’s hair, “ ‘m sorry... I’m not mad, I’m just--” Barry sighed, his fingers anxiously combing out the knots in Hal’s hair, “just tired...”

Hal rolled over to be laying on his stomach, his cheek now resting against Barry’s ribcage. He wrapped his arms around Barry’s body almost like he’s hugging a pillow, a movement to say he forgave him.

The hand that wasn’t entangled in brown hair was running along Hal’s naked back. Feeling at the ridged muscles from being a hero, Barry’s fingers worked at one of Hal’s tense muscles.

“You’re sore, aren’t you?” Barry whispered, his voice dipping down some octaves, making Hal sigh lowly as he felt his shoulder ease-out underneath Barry’s touch.

“You could’ve told me you were sore.” Barry worked at a knot near his shoulder blade, "These get uncomfortable to sleep on after a few days."

“ ‘s...don’t wanna keep you up...” he drearily replied, letting go of a soft whimper when Barry went to push him back so he could sit up. 

Pulling Hal up from his legs to have his head laying in his lap, pale hands went straight to another tense area in Hal’s back. The pilot softly groaned when Barry’s fingers kneaded loose the built-up tension in that spot. Rolling back his shoulders, Hal sighed satisfactorily when he heard a small pop.

“You should stretch more often,” Barry commented, vibrating his hands to warm up Hal’s back, then running his palms over more muscles to soothe them out.

For a few minutes, silence filled the room, save for some skin rubbing against skin, and Hal lightly sighing in relief whenever Barry released a stiff muscle Hal hadn’t even noticed was sore.

By the end, Barry had gotten Hal to relax out so much he was asleep. The top of his head pressed against Barry’s torso while his face was buried in his thigh. 

Stroking at Hal’s hair, Barry yawned, checking the time to see it was nearly 3 in the morning. He had to wake up at 7. Sighing inwardly, Barry ran his hand through Hal’s hair, the thin strands building up to be thick and tangled. 

Brushing them out with his fingers, Barry rubbed at Hal’s scalp, waking the Lantern up from his short slumber. He mumbled something incoherent, then lifted his head to try and meet Barry’s eyes.

Unable to control his adoration for Hal’s tired expression, he smiled exhaustedly at the brunette and leaned down to connect their lips for a short, chaste kiss. When they parted, Barry moved his legs under Hal, which got him to roll over to his side of the bed. 

Barry’s legs tingled with the blood being able to flow around again without any extra pressure placed on them, but at this point, he was too tired to care for the prickling sensation.

Sliding down to lay on his back, Barry sighed contently, closing his eyes, he felt comfortable enough to fall asleep right there and then for the rest of his life. Just him, Hal, and the fluffy blankets and pillows around them.

He felt Hal shift to get closer, then an arm was tossed over his chest and Hal's hair tickled at his cheek.

Barry reciprocated by leaning his body to Hal's side, brushing away the strands that were teasing his eyes, the blond felt the pilot move his hand from being across the speedster's body to resting over his heart.

Barry snuggled in closer against Hal's warmth, letting unconsciousness slowly consume him until he joined Hal in the soft hands of slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> All kudos, comments, and constructive criticism are welcome!  
> Now, bedtime. Yeah, I see you reading this late at night, it's bedtime for you.


End file.
